Toledo, OH – May 24, 2012 – Officials with The Maritime Academy of Toledo and the Great Lakes Maritime Academy in Traverse City, MI have announced that the Great Lakes Maritime Academy training vessel, T/S State of Michigan, will make her first ever visit to Toledo on Friday, May 25, 2012.

The scheduled stop fulfills an announcement made October 18, 2011 during Maritime Education Awareness Week at The Maritime Academy of Toledo. At that time Ms. Renee Marazon, Superintendent, The Maritime Academy of Toledo along with Mr. John Berck, Director of Admissions and Captain Mike Surgalski, Master, T/S State of Michigan, both from the Great Lakes Maritime Academy, announced the Toledo visit which will allow The Great Lakes Maritime Academy to visit the students at The Maritime Academy of Toledo to talk about maritime education and career opportunities. Students from The Maritime Academy of Toledo will be given a private tour of the vessel.

T/S State of Michigan is the 224-foot former Navy submarine surveillance ship Persistent. Originally launched in 1985 as the USNS Persistent (T-AGOS-6); the T/S State of Michigan was commissioned as a Stalwart class Tactical Auxiliary General Ocean Surveillance Ship (TAGOS). She was built as an ocean submarine surveillance vessel to tow highly sensitive sonar arrays to track Soviet submarines during the Cold War. In the 1990s, when the Soviet threat was no longer a concern, the Navy opted to decommission the TAGOS fleet.

In the summer of 2002, the USNS Persistent underwent maintenance and additional overhaul to prepare her for her new freshwater home. In August 2002, the vessel’s name was changed to T/S State of Michigan by the Great Lakes Maritime Academy. The training ship is now used as a daily laboratory environment and is also used underway allowing cadets to put into practice the theory and skills they have learned prior to their commercial sea projects.

T/S State of Michigan is schedule to arrive at 10 a.m. on May 25 and will depart Saturday morning May 26 for Detroit. The ship will be moored near The Maritime Academy of Toledo at 803 Water St. in Downtown Toledo. No public tours are scheduled.

For more information on The Maritime Academy of Toledo, visit www.maritimeacademy.us or call 419-244-9999.